After midnight, we're gonna let it all hang down

 Our beloved sweet dog has died.   

We had, for the last year, made accommodations for him since his condition was deteriorating.  In spite of the summer heat, we kept the "winter" rugs and runners down to help him walk and maintain his balance.  I had been cooking for him, usually chicken, since it became nearly the only thing he would accept. We had  multiple doggie beds and soft pads around for his comfort. And, we were keeping the clowns restricted to their cages at night, except for Tee and Scruffy.

Dealing with the grief, we washed all the beds, vacuumed and rolled up the rugs and managed to find people who were happy to take the beds and pads and a veterinarian who took some of our cat cages as well, as recuperative cages for animals he sees in his office. 

The unusual heat wave persisted.  Even with two cooling towers and a Dyson cool unit going, plus a fan, the cat room was becoming uncomfortably hot during the night.  We decided it was time to see what happened if we let them all have the run of the house all night.

It was fine at first.  I purchased two smaller, cat size beds for the living room.  Lupo adores them.  Zini is a fan, too.  Yes, all was quiet until about 3 am.  Then......it was time to PARTY!!!

We made the mistake of not leaving any toys out, so the inventive little devils found other things to play with.  They found the top of the pantry in the kitchen and knocked down a small calendar and some other items, which they proceeded to bat around.  They found a small flashlight and somehow didn't break it. Thumpity, thumpity, thump.....the thundering herd chased one another up and down the hallway.  A philodendron got sampled with green bits of leaf and stem strewn around on the floor.  The small "rugs"..flat runners we leave down all year, were all askew in the morning.  

Big orange Percy, after daybreak, plopped himself in the middle of our bed, purring away and playing with his own tail.  

The world didn't end, nothing was destroyed.....so we tried again the next night.  This time, we left out some toys.  The clowns followed pretty much the same pattern but this time they had fuzzy mice and bouncy balls to occupy them.

It's been more than a week now....and I suppose we have gotten used to the hall races in the wee small hours.  Perhaps some of the clowns have gotten used to their freedom and prefer to sleep?  I have seen several of them at a time just peacefully gazing out a window at the night while others are snoozing, When the sun rises, it's most of them on the windowsill in the bedroom because that's where all the bird action is.  

Imp is happy because he can sleep sitting up on the sofa, which, because of his asthma, helps him breathe. 

Someone managed to find a ball with jingle bells inside it the other night....or should I say morning?  Had to put a stop to THAT real quick.

I'm hoping that they all settle down as they become accustomed to the new routine and as they mature, hopefully, tearing around like banshees at 4 o'clock in the morning won't be as attractive as it is now. 

And maybe when the weather gets cooler they will be more inclined to cuddle.  We can hope.